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34 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
Shuishi valley to the east and to the north, and
by the low land south of Louisa Bay to the west
and lastly, the southern section, which comprises
the forts on the Tiger’s Tail peninsula, Loatiehshan
mountain and the forts to the west of the inner
harbour. Each of these groups forms a well-defined
ensemble, and is, as a matter of fact, in itself a
complete, independent and self-supporting fortress;
while, if the three groups are considered en masse,
the two former make up the enceinte, and the
latter forms the citadel of the whole fortress,
where a last stand can be made.
The ground on which the forts and batteries of
the western section had been constructed is not
so broken as the high land to the east of the
Shuishi valley. It forms a well-defined plateau
bounded on all sides by sea or low land ;
the inner
part is fairly level and somewhat lower than the
edges, which in most places form hills or moun-
tains with very steep sides. Along the western
edge of the plateau stretches a long range of hills
attaining considerable heights. These hills have
no proper names, but were called 174 Metre Hill,
180 Metre Hill, 203 Metre Hill, &c., according to
their altitude above sea level, and I will therefore
call the whole range the " Metre range.” To the
north of the plateau a number of high, steep,
isolated hills were lying as a kind of outworks to
the main position, forming a piece of broken
country.
The main forts and fortifications in this section
were, to the east, the two old Chinese forts,
Antzeshan and Itzeshan, built on eminences rising
abruptly from the lower Shuishi valley, with prac-
tically unclimbable sides. Close to Antzeshan,
which was a very strong battery position, and a
little further in on the plateau, was the Tai-
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